Open on your dorm room. Purple and white streamers run the length of your ceiling and balloons fill the surface area of your tile floor and bedding. Your desk, dresser and comforter are covered with an assortment of your favorite candies, goodies and letters. Freshly baked cupcakes and cookies sit there, quietly packaged away waiting to be eaten. And there in the center of your desk, your favorite bagels. This is it, you realize, this is big little week.
It’s the week all sorority girls dream of. Big little week is reputable in any sorority’s new member process around the U.S. It’s spoken of endlessly on Pinterest, sorority blogs, and it’s the first thing you hear of in recruitment. Big little week. It’s like your birthday and Christmas all wrapped into one, they say. It’s the best week of your life, they say. And as it has now rolled around for me, I understand what they meant.
Day one is filled with a surprise room decoration. You walk into a room that no longer resembles your own because it’s entirely decorated over. The following days are a whirlwind of overflowing baskets filled with everything you ever wanted. Kate spade earrings. Sorority letters. Wall décor galore. Lilly Pulitzer nick knacks. Your favorite candy and snacks. Possibly even a baby pool or mattress pad. Whatever you asked for, no matter how big or small, your big delivers. Well actually, its delivered by shirtless guys, men in overalls offering lap dances, or mysterious people in gorilla suits. It’s like waiting for your named to be called in a lottery, albeit slightly embarrassing, but good fun all the same.
Then the end of the week rolls around. You feel a few pounds heavier and a million pounds happier. You feel spoiled. You feel loved. It’s all wrapped up with one big round of surprises, gifts and a reveal. And thats when you realize, just like the Grinch, Christmas (or in this case big little week) means so much more than you thought. Not only is it a week all about you, with presents left and right, but in the end you get the best present of all, a new bff.
